Ash Wednesday opens the way to Easter, but we must journey through Lent to get there. Our Lenten guide this year is Making the Road: Walking through Lent. This six-week set of daily reflections and prayers written by Presbyterian Outlook editor Teri McDowell Ott is based on the Spanish poet Antonio Machado’s poem, “Walker.” Machado writes: “Walker, there is no road, the road is made by walking.”

Each week we will make the road to Jerusalem through the following themes:

We will post a PDF on our Facebook page each week and print copies to be picked up at church or mailed out with Windows. You can download or read a devotion at any time here.

Our church has a wonderful opportunity to partner with Montana Indian Ministries this summer. We are looking to take a group of six to eight men to do maintenance and repair work at the Montana Indian Ministries Camp on the Fort Belknap Reservation. We would like this to be an intergenerational trip of brothers in Christ, and we encourage father-and-son teams, as well as young men in the congregation, to consider this mission opportunity. We plan to leave Saturday, June 11, and return Saturday, June 18. We will meet in the church parlor on Sunday, February 27, at 10:15 to review the project and discuss next steps. The cost of the trip is $25/day for meals and lodging, plus a roundtrip plane ticket from Tri-Cities Airport to Billings, Montana. You can read more about Montana Indian Ministries here.

There has been interest by some in our community in starting a local meeting of Overeaters Anonymous, a 12-step program that helps people work through food addiction issues. OA is not just about weight gain or loss, maintenance, obesity, or diets. ­The program offers physical, emotional, and spiritual recovery for those who suffer from compulsive eating. To get started, however, we need a small group to begin organizing. If you are interested in hearing more, please contact Pastor Sam, and he will connect you with others interested in starting a group. Email Sam, or call the church office at (423) 764-7176.

We have a two-by-two plan for Fairmount School snacks through March. Our theme is snacks for small hands. This is week 2 for juice boxes. Any flavor that strikes your fancy is fine! Next up will be goldfish crackers. Our final two-week snack drive will be for little pretzels. Please put your donated snacks in the collection box in the fellowship hallway or in the box under the TV in the narthex. Thank you!

Student Ministries’ Winter Olympics were a blast! After a Bible study on God’s faithfulness through trials, students participated in several Olympic events. There was bobsledding outdoors on a course for only the most experienced bobsledders in Bristol. Students paired up and navigated auto creepers on a downhill course. Indoors, students participated in speed skating and figure skating. Wax-paper sheets on shoes turned the church into a giant ice skating rink, where students perfected their routines and set personal records. Everyone had a great time! You can follow more student fun on Instagram here or @fpcbristolSM.

Linda R. Lamb (b. 1944; pictured) has been involved with handbells since 1992, as director, ringer, and composer. She received a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Carson-Newman College (now University) with a minor in music, and a Master of Church Music with handbell emphasis from Concordia University in Wisconsin. She is the founder and list owner of the Frustrated Friends of Finale (FFF), a mailing list for users of the computer music program who mostly compose and arrange for handbells. She has numerous handbell publications to her credit. On Sunday we will complete her trilogy of pieces Three Tunes for Six Ringers by playing her arrangement of KINGSFOLD (our prelude). “The need for six-ringer music outside the standard twelve-bell arrangements rose from a need in my own church choir. Our six ringers consisted of four who were more comfortable with conventional assignments and two who were a bit more adventurous.” We found her assignments for the two “adventurous” ringers a bit too adventurous, so we have added a seventh ringer, our Choral Intern from King University, Philip Adams.

Graham Kendrick (b. 1950; pictured in 2019) is a prolific English Christian singer, songwriter, and worship leader. He is the son of a Baptist pastor, M. D. Kendrick, and grew up in Laindon, Essex, and in Putney. He now lives in Tunbridge Wells, where he is a member of Holy Trinity with Christ Church. He is a member of Ichthus Christian Fellowship. With Roger Forster, Gerald Coates, and Lynn Green, he cofounded March for Jesus. His most enduring accomplishment is his authorship of the lyrics and music for the song “Shine, Jesus, Shine,” which is among the most widely heard songs in contemporary Christian worship worldwide. We will sing it Sunday for our closing hymn, and hear David Blackwell’s arrangement for organ as our postlude.

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701 Florida Avenue | Bristol, TN 37620 | 423-764-7176 | fpcbristol.org